On tap @ the brand spanking new Devils Backbone Outpost Brewery (Lexington, VA) on 3/9/12. Served in a clear plastic cup.

Pours a clear copper, with a ½ finger of slightly off-white head. This retains at about the same width, leaving back some decent looking spotty swathes of lace. The aroma smells fresh, leafy, and citric, with an underlying malty push of buttered toast and sweet caramel. This is nice.

The taste has a firm feeling leafy and citric bite to it, with sweet balancing caramel malt and a toasty and buttered presence that is really leaving a favorable impression on me. The finish is dry and leafy with a lightly spicy and bitter feel. The mouthfeel is medium bodied, with a firm pricklier carbonation in the mouth that is managing to be lively and crisp yet still pretty smooth on the palate as well.

I really liked this. It’s definitely more of an Irish Red now and should probably be reclassified as such; with notes of caramel, butter, toast, and firm hop bitterness that gives this just enough of a refreshing crispness. I could drink a whole lot of this and not get bored.

A big thanks to the legendary woodychandler for this beer. Poured from a 12 oz. can. Has a pretty deep amber color with a 1/2 inch head. Smell if of caramel malts, some sweetness. Taste is well balanced, caramel malts, some hops, tasty and very easy drinking. Feels medium bodied in the mouth and overall is a fine beer and disappearing quickly.

Palate comes with a nice creamy mouthfeel and moderate combination. Slight hints of grass and mild hop bitterness. A very slight twinge of chewy grapefruit and citrus on the finish. Caramel sweetness seems to be missing and lacking a little. Warmth brings out more character but still toned down.

I have an aunt & uncle who live in DC and I was down to stay with them for a fest recently, after which, I headed for Dupont Circle where I always have a good time. I stopped in at Whole Foods Market, where I found this poor, lost rabbit who was running late for a very important date with The CANQuest (TM) and kept looking at his pocket watch. I scooped him up and brought him home, but I am still CANfused as to why a White Rabbit is on a Red Ale. It's a CANundrum if ever one existed.

From the CAN: "Slainte Cheers"; "Virginia Heartland".

Once the Crack! was heard, I sped the rabbit on his way with an inverted Glug. The pseudo-cascade was perfect and resulted in a finger of tawny head that quickly dissipated, leaving some nice lacing in its wake. The color was a deep coppery-red (SRM = > 17, < 22) and looked like the hair color of a former girlfriend. I am not a huge fan of filtration, but this was filament-bright, adding to the overall appearance of the beer. Nose had a light grassiness to accompany the biscuity maltiness and I found this odd for an Irish-style Red as I usually think of them as being quite malty, where this was more subdued. Actually, in reading up on it, this was well within spec for the style, exhibiting a caramel maltiness in the mouth with just a hint of the grassiness that I noted on the nose. Mouthfeel was medium and I found myself drinking through it quite quickly. "Easy-drinking beer" may be a cliche, but I am unabashed in using it in this instance. The finish was semi-sweet, but just about right for my tolerance of sweet beers. Its relatively low ABV would make it a good CANdidate for the cooler.